### 12626 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 47 / Thursday, March 10, 2016 / Proposed Rules

Dated: March 4, 2016. Lynn B. Mahaffie, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning and Innovation, Delegated the Duties of Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2016–05412 Filed 3–9–16; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 4000–01–P**

**DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS** 

**38 CFR Part 14**

**Recognition of Tribal Organizations for Representation of VA Claimants** 

**AGENCY :**  Department of Veterans Affairs.

**ACTION :**  Notice of Tribal consultation.

**SUMMARY :**  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is considering issuing a proposed rulemaking to amend its regulations concerning recognition of certain national, State, and regional or local organizations for purposes of VA claims representation. Specifically, the proposed rulemaking would amend VA’s regulations to expressly provide for the VA recognition of Tribal organizations so that representatives of Tribal organizations may assist Native American claimants in the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of their VA benefit claims. In addition, the proposed rule would allow an employee of a Tribal government to become accredited through a recognized State organization.

**DATES :**  Comments must be received by VA on or before April 11, 2016.

**ADDRESSES :**  Written comments should be submitted by email at Tribalgovernmentconsultation@va.gov, by fax at 202–273–5716, or by mail at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Suite 915E, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20420.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  Clay Ward, VA Office of Tribal Government Relations at (202) 461–7445 (this is not a toll-free number), or by email at Tribalgovernmentconsultation@va.gov, or by mail at Suite 915B, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20420.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :**  VA is considering issuing a proposed rulemaking that would amend part 14 of title 38, Code of Federal Regulations, to provide for the recognition of Tribal organizations so that representatives of the organizations may assist Native American claimants in the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of their VA benefit claims. The purpose of the proposed rulemaking would be to address the needs of Native American populations who are geographically isolated from existing recognized Veterans Service Organizations or who may not be utilizing other recognized Veterans Service Organizations due to cultural barriers or lack of familiarity with those organizations.

First, the proposed rulemaking would allow the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to recognize Tribal organizations in a similar manner as the Secretary recognizes State organizations. Specifically, the proposed rulemaking would consider applications from a Tribal organization that is established and funded by one or more Tribal governments to be recognized for the purpose of providing assistance on VA benefit claims. In addition, the proposed rulemaking would allow an employee of a Tribal government to become accredited through a recognized State organization in a similar manner as a county veterans’ service officer may become accredited through a recognized State organization. Finally, the proposed rulemaking would extend office space opportunities already granted to employees of State organizations who are accredited to national organizations to similar employees of Tribal organizations. The intended effect of this proposed rule would be to improve access of Native American veterans toVA-recognized organizations and VAaccredited individuals who may assist them on their benefit claims. The proposed rulemaking would not preempt Tribal law. This Tribal consultation is seeking input from Tribal governments regarding VA’s consideration of the issuance of such proposed rulemaking. VA is also seeking comment on the potential compliance costs.

In order to become accredited as a Tribal organization, the organization must show that it meets the requirements in 38 CFR 14.628(d). Pursuant to § 14.628(d), an organization requesting recognition must have as a primary purpose serving veterans; demonstrate a substantial service commitment to veterans either by showing a sizable organizational membership or by showing performance of veterans’ services to a sizable number of veterans; commit a significant portion of its assets to veterans’ services and have adequate funding to properly perform those services; maintain a policy and capability of providing complete claims service to each claimant requesting representation or give written notice of any limitation in its claims service with advice concerning the availability of alternative sources of claims service; and take affirmative action, including training and monitoring of accredited representatives, to ensure proper handling of claims. VA is seeking comment on the amount of time and the costs of persons’ time to show that the organization meets these requirements. VA’s Office of the General Counsel accepts recognition requests via mail, fax, or email.

Signing Authority: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or designee, approved this document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as an official document of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Robert D. Snyder, Interim Chief of Staff, approved this document on March 3, 2016, for publication.

Approved: March 3, 2016. William F. Russo, Director, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2016–05163 Filed 3–9–16; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 8320–01–P**

**ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY** 

**40 CFR Part 52**

**[EPA–R05–OAR–2014–0658; FRL–9943–45– Region 5]** 

**Air Plan Approval; Ohio; Base Year Emission Inventories for the 2008 8-**  **Hour Ozone Standard**

**AGENCY :**  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

**ACTION :**  Proposed rule.

**SUMMARY :**  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve, under the Clean Air Act (CAA), a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) on July 18, 2014, to address emission inventoryrequirements for the Cleveland-AkronLoraine, Ohio (OH) and Columbus, OH ozone nonattainment areas and for theOhio portion of the Cincinnati, OhioKentucky-Indiana ozone nonattainment area under the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standard. The CAA requires emission inventories for all ozone nonattainment areas. The emission inventories contained in Ohio’s July 18, 2014, submission meet this CAA requirement. EPA is also proposing to confirm that the state of Ohio has acceptable stationary source annual emission statement regulations, which have been previously approved by the EPA.


### 12627 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 47 / Thursday, March 10, 2016 / Proposed Rules

**DATES :**  Comments must be received on or before April 11, 2016.

**ADDRESSES :**  Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R05– OAR–2014–0658 at http:// www.regulations.gov or via email to Aburano.Douglas@epa.gov. For comments submitted at Regulations.gov

, follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. For either manner of submission, EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in the **FOR FURTHER**
**INFORMATION CONTACT** section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/ commenting-epa-dockets.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  Edward Doty, Air Programs Branch (AR–18J), Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 886–6057, Doty.Edward@epa.gov.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :**  In the Rules and Regulations section of this Federal Register , EPA is approving Ohio’s SIP revision submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this rule, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time. Please note that, if EPA receives adverse comment on an amendment, paragraph, or section of this rule and if that provision may be severed from the remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt as final those provisions of the rule that are not the subject of an adverse comment. For additional information see the direct final rule, which is located in the Rules section of this Federal Register

.

Dated: February 26, 2016. Robert A. Kaplan, Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5.
[FR Doc. 2016–05272 Filed 3–9–16; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 6560–50–P**

**ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY** 

**40 CFR Part 52**

**[EPA–R04–OAR–2015–0154; FRL–9943–44– Region 4]** 

**Air Quality Plans; Tennessee; Infrastructure Requirements for the**  **2010 Sulfur Dioxide National Ambient Air Quality Standard** 

**AGENCY :**  Environmental Protection Agency.

**ACTION :**  Proposed rule.

**SUMMARY :**  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission, submitted by the State of Tennessee, through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), on March 13, 2014, for inclusion into the Tennessee SIP. This proposal pertains to the infrastructure requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) for the 2010 1- hour sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). The CAA requires that each state adopt and submit a SIP for the implementation, maintenance and enforcement of each NAAQS promulgated by EPA, which is commonly referred to as an ‘‘infrastructure SIP submission.’’ TDEC certified that the Tennessee SIP contains provisions that ensure the 2010 1-hour SO 2 NAAQS is implemented, enforced, and maintained in Tennessee. EPA is proposing to determine that portions of Tennessee’s infrastructure SIP submission, provided to EPA on March 13, 2014, satisfy certain required infrastructure elements for the 2010 1- hour SO 2 NAAQS.

**DATES :**  Written comments must be received on or before April 11, 2016.

**ADDRESSES :**  Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R04– OAR–2015–0154 at http:// www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e. , on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/ commenting-epa-dockets.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  Michele Notarianni, Air Regulatory Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303–8960. Ms. Notarianni can be reached via electronic mail at notarianni.michele@epa.gov or via telephone at (404) 562–9031.

Table of Contents
I. Background and Overview II. What elements are required under sections 110(a)(1) and (2)? III. What is EPA’s approach to the review of infrastructure SIP submissions? IV. What is EPA’s analysis of how Tennessee addressed the elements of the sections 110(a)(1) and (2) ‘‘Infrastructure’’ provisions? V. Proposed Action VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews I. Background and Overview

On June 22, 2010 (75 FR 35520), EPA promulgated a revised primary SO 2 NAAQS to an hourly standard of 75 parts per billion (ppb) based on a 3-year average of the annual 99th percentile of 1-hour daily maximum concentrations. Pursuant to section 110(a)(1) of the CAA, states are required to submit SIPs meeting the applicable requirements of section 110(a)(2) within three years after promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS or within such shorter period as EPA may prescribe. Section 110(a)(2) requires states to address basic SIP elements such as requirements for monitoring, basic program requirements and legal authority that are designed to assure attainment and maintenance of the NAAQS. States were required to